DC 1200 vs. DC800

[ks18]

I purchased a DC800 and am not happy with the way it focuses, its way to slow. And I can't tell where it is focusing like other cameras. Instead of showing where its focusing it just shows a green square in the middle. Does the DC1200 do this? Or does it focus better than the 800?
I'm looking at purchasing a new camera but don't want to have the same problems as the 800.

Thank you.

 

[DiveLvr]

I dont have an answer to your question but I would like to add another question/scenario. This past weekend I was taking pictures with my DC 800 in shallow clear spring water on a sunny day. Not long ago in similiar conditions I did not use the Ocean Blue and had greenish blue pictures. This weekend I used the Ocean Blue and my pictures had a reddish brown hue. My buddy was using his DC 1200 taking pictures in the same water/depth and the color of his pictures are great. What gives?

 

[didi440]

@DiveLvr -- you might want to check your exposure values (EV). I shoot a DC1000 and mine is set to -2 which gives me a very rich blue in the Caribbean and a clear green here at home in NY. The 1200 made some changes to the way EV is determined by the camera. On the 800 and 1000 you can change these on the fly on the housing or on the camera before putting it in the housing.

 

[johnboywalton]

The DC 800 is two generations older than the DC1200. Since a big part of the image processing and zoom focus issues here are electronic in nature, the DC1200 and DC1400 will obviously be more advanced. I got a chance to compare notes about the DC800, DC100 and my own DC1200 recently, because some guys I was diving with regularly had the older two cameras. The DC1200 is markedly improved over the DC800 on all counts but battery life.

 

[KevinG58]

delete

 

[Oldbear]

I shoot with the DC1200 and for the most part love it.

Once I learned to manually adjust my White Balalnce, my underwater colors have come out much better. I hardly ever take my strobes down now as there is enough light, just needed the White Balance adjusted. It does seem, however, at times to take a while to focus; mainly on macro scenes...which I like to take. Also there is a short lag time from pressing the button and the image being taken...if little Nemo would only sit still long enough to take the picture.

I also have a Canon 90, which my daughter has now commandeered and she loves it...both underwater and for land. When I took the PADI Digital Underwater Course, my instructor also used the Canon S90. Since there is now on the S100 generation I would only imagine that it is even better.
The one glaring feature about the Sealife DC 1200 over the Canon S90 that I do like is the piano key buttons. They are definitely better than the alternative push buttons in my opinion. :uwphotographer:

~Michael~

 

[Oldbear]

I just thought of an after-thought on the the macro focusing issue. My most recent dives that the focusing was a noticeable issue, there was a lot of floating sediment in the water. Perhaps the range finder could not identify which element to focus on...maybe someone with more knowledge than I can help address this.

 

[deeper thoughts]

I owned the dc800 and the dc1000. The 1000 was night and day better than the 800 imho